Unit name | Naples: Culture, Identity and Nation |
---|---|
Unit code | ITAL30045 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
Unit director | Professor. Glynn |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of Italian |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
The Unification of Italy saw the decline of Naples from prestigious capital of the Kingdom of Sicily to a thorn in the side of the new Italian government, a position it occupies once again in the new millennium. This unit explores the fortunes of Naples within the modern Italian state, as conveyed in cultural production. It opens with a survey of a range of cultural forms and practices specific to Naples and of key contributions to discourses relating to relating to Neapolitan identity. It then proceeds to address the literary and cinematic representation of Naples at three key moments in time: at the foundation of the state; in the immediate post-war period and in the contemporary context. It explores the ways in which the city has been represented as alternately the quintessence of Italian identity and its vilified other; it raises issues relating to the feminization of the city in the cultural imaginary; the relationship between city and state in the decline of its industrial heritage; and the emergence and growth of the Camorra in the wake of that decline.
In addition to introducing students to the cultural production of Naples from the post-unification period to the present, this unit aims to develop students’ knowledge and understanding of the role occupied by Naples in discourses relating to the Italian nation. It further aims to enhance students’ critical skills by introducing them to appropriate critical frames for the interrogation of contradictory and often contentious cultural texts. Finally, the unit seeks to further develop students’ critical and communicative skills through close analysis of a diverse range of texts and through the completion of oral presentations and written assignments.
Aims:
Successful students will:
The unit will be taught in a combination of tutor- and student-led teaching, predominantly in seminar format but with a small number of introductory lectures.
essay 50%, commentary 25%, presentation 25%
Primary Texts:
Matilde Serao, Il ventre di Napoli (1884)
Eduardo De Filippo, Napoli milionaria! (1945)
Anna Maria Ortese, Il mare non bagna Napoli (1954) [selected extracts]
Liliana Cavani, dir., La pelle (1981)
Antonio Capuano, dir., Pianese Nunzio 14 anni a maggio (1996)
Roberto Saviano, Gomorra (2006)